The Portland daily press., 1887-09-06
Accounts of the sculling Race and
Ball Came.


Ball Came.
Other Incidents Of the Very Popular
Holiday.
Yesterday witnessed in Portland and vi
cinity tue first attempt to celebrate the Fifth
OF September as holiday The weather
was simply perfect, and, from morn till
night not an incident occurred to mar the
festivities in the slightest degree The city
officially recognized the day by holsting the
national colors on the City Hall, closing the
city offices, and Its Mayor went to pre-
side over the literary exercises at Long ISL
and. There was not a general closing move-
ment on the part of business men, but a
number Of professional men, and heads of
establishments employing many men gave
their employees the day, while the employees
improved their opportunities to their hearts
content The reporters for the PRESS give
below the account of the celebration at Long
Island in detail.
The Addresses.
The meetingat which the addresses of the
day were delivered was called to order at
about / o'clock by Mayor Chapman, who
spoke as follows;
MAYOR CHAPMAN.
Ladies and Gentlemen and Felloic Citizens
am desired by the committee of arrange
ments to call this meeting to order and assist
in the Introduction of speakers. You will
excuse me from detaining you with any re-
M a act hat
many eloquent gentlemen present, who win
address you. / wish, however, in a single
word, to congratulate you upon the auspi-
cious Inauguration of the holiday upon the
splendid audience assembled here,-and to
express my fifm belief that, through the pub
lie relaxation and thoughtful discussion af-
forded by Labor Day, such re suits will fol-
low as shall be conducive not only to kind
lier social relations but also to higher
standard of citizenship.
He then introduced the State Commissions
er Of Labor Statistics,
HON. S. w. MATTHEW'S.
The speaker expressed his satisfaction at
the gathering. the day, and the idea of the
holiday. He then briefly alluded to
the character of the work which he
was expected to do, and said it was
his earnest desire that nothing of the
terfere with the work of the Commission.
he expressed his dissatisfaction with the
present wage system, and said that while
perhaps it might be comparatively good. yet
that it should be better. He believes that
Its faults are in great measure derived from
the fallacles in the principle upon which it is
Daseu-that wages come from capital. He
takes the ground which Henry George takes
In his reasoning in Progress and Poverty"
that the wages come not from capital but
from production, that is, from the laborer' s
own work. He reminded the audience that
the age we live in is not revolutionary but
an evolutionary age, and that it is duty
deyolvipg upon the labor organizations to
educate the people to a recognition of the
rights of labor.
Following Mr.. Matthews address the
chairman introduced
W.. H. LooNEY, ESQ,
who spoke as follows:
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
1 tender my most sincere thanks to the rep
resentatives of the various labor organiza-
tions of Portland for this opportunity of ad-
dressing them. consider it proud honor
and distinction. The laboring man of Amer
lea is the peer of any man ON EARTH In the
highest and truest sense of the term he is a
king. Labor is the badge of manhood.
Labor is the true road to success. Labor is
the proudest title in America" Work is the
badge OF the freeman, not the brand of the
slave. Independence acquired by the sweat
of ones brow is the proudest reward of man
hood. am aware that some men who,
while they are in favor of the organization of
capital, covertly sneer at the organization of
labor. and at every effort of the workingmen
to better their condition while they de-
nounce as demagogues and accuse of at.
tempting to array labor against capital.
those who address meetings of this kind.
am not in the least disturbed by manifes-
tations of this kind. Such men are usually
as Ignorant Of economic questions as they
to obtain wealth. l consider that the true
safety OF capital, and the happiness of labor
depends upon candid discussion of the va
rious questions which are presented for our
consideration and an honest effort to answer
them.
Rightly considered there can be no hostili-
ty between labor and capital; one is correla-
tive OF the other. one is the soul, the other
the body Of commercial life.
All the wealth of a country is produced by
those who toll by the brain, and those who
toll by the hand. What shall be done with
the surplus Of the wealth thus produced,
what proportion shall 60 to labor, what to
capital, is the key to the labor problem.
Hitherto, It must be admitted capital has re-
ceived the lions share. Capital handicapped
by monopoly has ever developed a tendency
giant labor, no longer blinded, no longer ig-
norant OF its true interests, is fully organ
lied, meets its opponent on the open field.
and demands its full rights. What are these
demands? They are ''the Independence and
comfort Of the workingmen, reasonable
share in the prosperity he has made, full
days wages for full days work. These
are, as 1t seems to me, reasonable demands.
The workingmen are perfectlytjustiied in yot.
ing only for those men who are in sympathy
with those demands, who will, as far as pos
sible, use their efforts to embody them in
legislation.
One step towards the amelioration of the
condition OF the laboring men. and one which
tion of the hours of labor. If may be par
doned for personal allusion, / favored the
passage OF ten hour bill similar to that
which exists In England and Massachusetts,,
and which is similar to that since passed in
Connecticut and New Hampshire, not only
because the political party of which L am a
member had ten hour plank in its platform,
and felt In honor Bound to keep the pledges
otter election made before, .but for higher
and better reasons. was in favor of such a
ia law because believed the wage earners in
the manufacturing and mechanical establish
ments OF Maine should have two hours more
day for moral and intellectual improvement.
was in favor of it because believed their
wages should be increased, for the history of
this movement demonstrates that reduction
of the hours of labor tends to increase the
wages OF the operative. | was in favor of ii
because believed the youth in our manu-
featuring centres should spend their young
life in the school room, not in the vitiating
atmosphere of the mill. was in favor of It
because it meant death to system which by
the deterioration, physical, mental and mora,
which it wrought, was undermining and de.
stroying the very foundation upon which the
fabric of the State rests--a system under
which the wage earners of Maine were paid
less and worked more hours than those of any
state in.NewEngland--"a system impolitic, i'm
moral and unchristian a system upon which
no State can stand. to which no morality can
be reconciled, against which Christianity with
all her virtues utters her indignant protest.
trust d not violate the propristies of this
occasion II | call yonr attention to a ques-
tion which in my judgment is of vital impor-
tance to the people ofthis State, one which
will demand their serious consideration in
the near future. | neon the policy which
should he nurgupd nv the Sfata fnwa rdo tln